


Monochrome

by kyballs



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 23:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18128201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyballs/pseuds/kyballs
Summary: the good ol' "you only see black and white until you meet your soulmate' au, a story based off of i-vongola's gifset from tumblr





	Monochrome

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this post, loved the gifset so much I had to write a oneshot about it.  
> http://i-vongola.tumblr.com/post/167599955993/happy-birthday-makoto-soulmate-color-au-with

“Blue shades are the best.” Rin says absentmindedly while walking home from elementary school on a cold winter day, snow dropping on their faces. Sousuke looks up at his friend, only seeing his friend in black and white. 

“What are you saying?”he asks Rin with not much thought put into his question.

“I can see it!’ he says excitedly, turning to Sousuke for the first time, “I met my soulmate!”

He’s happy for his friend, being able to see the color of the world already. He didn’t know much about it, only that once you met your soulmate, you would be able to see the world in more than just greyscale. He looked at his smiling friend and felt a bit of envy, when would he be able to say that he could see the world in color?

He doesn’t think he’s old enough yet to understand the true beauty of a colorful world but, he does know that he wants to meet his other half as soon as possible. He thinks it would be nice to have someone around that he was meant to love. 

He arrives home, noticing more couples on the street than usual after he and Rin had went their separate ways. He sits across the street against the concession stand building in the park before going into his house. 

_ ‘When will I meet you?’ _

* * *

“Haru?” Makoto called out to his friend walking ahead of him, who turned simply turned around in response.

He was embarrassed asking him about his soulmate but, he was so eager to know what it was like to see the world in a different way. He wanted to be able to look at the setting sun with as much awe as his mother did. “What are...colors like?

Haru looks at him for a moment, Makoto can see the look in his eyes. Haru had met his soulmate back in elementary school and he was happy for his friend, he figured he too would soon meet the person he was destined to be with. As elementary school came to pass, he still hadn’t met them, even halfway through his last year at junior high he saw nothing but greyscale.

He knows Haru doesn’t like to talk about it to him for this reason, not wanting to upset his friend by sharing the new world with him when he’s been waiting his 15 years of life to experience it himself.

“They are fine.” he finally responds, looking down at the cement below their feet, Makoto looks down too.

“I can’t wait to meet my soulmate.” he says more to himself than Haru. He feels heat rush to his face and tears start to form in his eyes before he shakes that sad feeling away and continues walking home.

_ ‘I still haven’t found you yet.” _

* * *

He’d come to find out from classmates around him that you usually met your soulmate in your youth, more and more of his peers talking about color and their soulmates as the years past. He sat against the concessions building, waiting to go inside his house after his first day of senior high. He looked at the landscape of his neighborhood, still a dull monochrome for him.

He wished he had someone to talk to about this, Rin didn’t understand what it was like to not have his soulmate and he didn’t want to talk to his dad about something like this. His dad didn’t like to talk about anything involving soulmates ever since his mother passed and he didn’t want to press the matter. 

He kept himself bottled up and tried to focus his energies into swimming, hoping he wouldn’t burst.

He clenched his fist in resentment of not finding the one meant for him so late in life. 

_ 'Where are you?!’ _

He ground his teeth together as a tear fell onto his face, leaning his head back against the building in exasperation. He took a breath, trying to calm his emotions before going home.

_ ‘Will I ever meet you?’ _

* * *

He went straight into his room after coming home from swim club practice, he heard his siblings call for him but he just wanted to be alone.

Ren and Ran had both come home from school this week announcing that they could finally see the world in color. Going through senior high, almost everyone he knew their soulmates, boasting the beauty of seeing the world how it was meant to be seen.

He felt awful for feeling the way he did, especially towards his own siblings. He was nearly crippled by jealousy towards anyone who had found love, who could actually see the color of the ocean, the sky, and all the cherry blossom trees in town.

He should have met his soulmate by now, everyone he knew had. Haru had even told him that his soulmate’s younger sister had discovered his swim captain was her soulmate at one of his meets.

He curled up on his bed, thinking that maybe it was his fault they hadn’t met yet. He had laid in bed like this many times, begging his soulmate to come into his life, apologizing for not coming into their life yet. 

He couldn’t discern if the sadness he was feeling was all his or not, wondering if his soulmate was upset with him for not coming into contact with them yet.

Maybe it was his fault they hadn’t met yet.

_ ‘Am I not good enough to meet you?’ _

* * *

 

He sat on the bleachers looking at the sports field by himself after swim practice when he felt a sudden burst of emotion, obliterating the empty feeling he had been feeling when he came outside. He had learned from a teacher that you could feel your soulmates emotions and feelings in yourself sometimes. He had cherished that fact, at least he knew there was someone out there for him, waiting for him.

“Are you happy right now?” he said to no one, with a hint of a smile on his lips.

* * *

Makoto stood in the locker room before going to practice, moving his arm around to alleviate the dull ache in his shoulder.

He knew that a soulmates feelings could influence your mood up until you met them, but he hadn’t known you could feel their pain until his shoulder started to ache a while ago.

* * *

The end of his last year in senior high was approaching quickly than he thought it would. Sousuke knew he was the only person in school to not know his soulmate yet, the only one whole still saw everything in drab greyscale.  He still couldn’t discern his feelings from his soulmates.

When swimming begun to feel uncomfortable and even painful at times for him, he had just passed it off as his soulmates pain, worrying about how they were doing.

It took a few more weeks of practice and meet for him to be where he was right now, crying in the showers of the locker room after his last meet of the school year.

His shoulder ached terribly, a burning pain shooting through it whenever he moved his arm. 

_ ‘This isn’t your pain.’ _ he thought to himself, throwing his head back against the tile of the shower walls in agony, letting the water from the shower head spray on his face, hoping to mask his tears from anyone that could walk past him

_ ‘I’m the one who’s hurt.’ _

* * *

 

Makoto took his dive into the water at the last meet of his senior high career, after submerging he felt like a small fish trapped in the ocean. His shoulder was hurting badly, he felt as if he was going to drown. His heart ached for his soulmate, they must not have known that it was their own injury causing them pain, why else would it have gotten this bad?

He pushed himself, for not only his and his team’s sake, but for his soulmate’s sake. Maybe if he could push through their pain and win, he would be worthy enough finally meet them. 

He felt an overwhelming feeling that they needed him right now, so he pushed himself to hit limit, swimming faster than he thought he could, reaching for the end of the pool like he was reaching for them. 

He broke from the water, trying to catch his breath when he saw that he had only gotten his team second place in the relay.

_ ‘Do you hate me for not being there for you?’ _

* * *

Makoto was staring at the monochrome sky outside of the arena when Sousuke exited the building.

He kept his head down to hide his slightly bloodshot eyes as he walked through the buildings glass doors, rubbing his shoulder before beginning his journey back to his house.

They both felt a strange feeling, one of hope that neither of them had felt before. Makoto continued to stare at the setting sun, Sousuke shaking the feeling away before finally moving away from the doors.

Sousuke kept his head down, walking past the guy who had just been standing on the pavement staring blankly into the horizon. Makoto stood in place as a man walked past him.

Suddenly, Makoto’s eyes stung a bit as he saw the man’s back in the side view of his eyes while he looked at the grey sky. After one blink, he was nearly knocked off of his feet when he looked back to the man who walked past him. He looked at his gym bag, and it was… red.

“Wait!” He couldn’t stop himself from yelling out to the man.

Sousuke came to a dead stop at the voice, looking up and blinking once. He felt breathless when his eyes snapped back open to reveal an array of oranges and yellows in the sky. He turned around quickly to see who the man whom the voice belonged to.

Makoto stared at the beautiful man that had walked past him with the red gym bag. He couldn’t  find himself even paying attention the sky behind the man standing in front of him. He couldn’t find himself even wanting to look at anyone but him.

“Took you long enough.” Sousuke chuckled at the man behind him.

“Sorry!” Makoto said sheepishly in response, unable to keep the smile off of his face any longer.

_ At last, I’ve finally found you. _


End file.
